CJPME Political Blog, Oct.12, 2016

Over thirteen years ago, the excitement was palpable.  In early June, 2003, Air Canada was about to launch its inaugural non-stop flight from Montreal to Beirut.  Thousands of Lebanese-Canadians had bought their tickets for the summer, delighted to avoid tiresome layovers in Europe on the way to visit friends and family.

CJPME Analysis, published July 24, 2015: It has been well over a year since Lebanon has had a President – the longest in Lebanese history. With no political consensus in sight, the perpetual deadlock in Parliament has effectively paralyzed the government and state institutions, and has polarized both Lebanon’s political parties and its pluralistic society. Moreover, three years of spill-over from the Syrian crisis has embroiled the Lebanese armed forces – with its capricious ‘ally’[*] Hezbollah – in an interminable fight against extremist groups, which risks unravelling Lebanon’s fragile stability.

CJPME Factsheet 33, published February, 2008: Canadian Forces Major Paeta Hess-Von Krudener – stationed as a United Nations peacekeeper in Lebanon – was killed on July 25, 2006 when the Israeli Air Force dropped a bomb on his UN post.  Since the time of the incident, the Israeli government has claimed its attack on the UN post was an accident.  Canada issued the results of its inquiry into the incident on Feb. 1, 2008.  Unfortunately, this claim of the Israelis rings hollow in light of the specifics of the incident.  

The Winter and Spring months of 2007 have been fraught with diplomatic activity in the Middle East, but vacant of much hope. CJPME proposes the following positions to enable Canada to be positively present in the Middle East.

CJPME Factsheet 29, published May, 2007: The end of the Destruction of Lebanon – the 34-day assault by Israel in July and August of 2006 – was marked by the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.  Later in 2006, the Security Council requested quarterly reports from the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of the resolution.Following the Secretary-General’s third such report on March 14^th, 2007, it is apparent that neither Israel nor Hezbollah are fully respecting the post-cease-fire requirements of 1701.

CJPME Factsheet 26, published May, 2007: Lebanon is extremely diverse religiously, culturally and politically.  This diversity has complicated the development of a stable political arrangement, and impeded the development of a single national identity.  As for diversity,  there are six different Muslim sects (in numeric order: Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ili, Alawite or Nusayri), and twelve different Christian sects (in numeric order: Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant.)  These sects are largely geographically defined.  This mosaic of peoples and politics has led the Lebanese to historically seek a balance of power through a political arrangement known as confessionalism.  

This position paper highlights the causes and repercussions of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war (also called the 2006 Lebanon war), before listing CJPME’s recommendations to Canada: offer more meaningful assistance to Lebanon, call both parties on their violations of international law and help remove unexploded Israeli munitions in Lebanon.